(MENAFN) South Korea’s Navy has indefinitely postponed a planned late-November joint search and rescue drill with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, a Japanese news outlet reported Monday, citing officials from both countries.

The move follows Japan’s withdrawal of approval for South Korean military jets to refuel at an Okinawa base after learning the aircraft had recently flown near the disputed islets in the Sea of Japan.

The exercise, previously held 10 times between 1999 and 2017, had been halted after a 2018 dispute involving Japanese patrol aircraft. Its planned revival was viewed as a sign of improving defense cooperation, according to a senior Defense Ministry official quoted by the outlet.

The contested islets — known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea — are administered by South Korea but claimed by Japan, and lie in the East Sea, or Sea of Japan.

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